I heard about rammed earth and adobe houses of Vilcabamba in a tourism video of Ecuador. Vilcabamba is famous for its natural beauty, perfect climate and high percentage of centenarians. Intrigued, I did some searching around on the Internet and discovered the following natural homes of interest. This shows how easy it is to find sustainable homes built of natural materials in most parts of the world now.
earth homes
Earth Building in Thailand
Interview with Peggy Reents and Thana Joe Uthaipattrakoon (nickname Joe). Owen: I first heard about earth building in Thailand from Janell Kapoor of Kleiwerks International fame who said there are thousands of new earthen houses in Thailand. That really amazed me and so I’ve set out to learn the details about the modern earth building … Read more
YouTube Earthbag Channel
I’ve just started a YouTube channel about earthbag building in hopes of seeing this building method spread more quickly, and to help improve the standard of construction. It’s easier for many people to learn by watching rather than just reading about it, and it’s a fun way to pass some time. Hope you enjoy it. … Read more
Building Efficiently
Many people want to know the lowest cost way of building. Here’s a short comparison of costs to build an earthbag house using ‘free’ options versus buying the building materials: hand dig soil on site = free versus deliver soil $200 gather materials and make thatch panels = free versus buy thatch panels $100 hand … Read more
Wood Siding on Earthbag Houses
There’s a plethora of building options not covered in the current earthbag literature, one of which is using wood siding on earthbag houses. Plaster is by far the most common wall finish, but it’s always good to know about other options. For instance, you may have access to a portable sawmill and low cost timber … Read more
Earthbag Building Expands Worldwide
Earthbag building (sometimes called sandbag building) started about one hundred years ago providing safe, bulletproof and bomb resistant shelters for the military. They proved to be fast, simple to construct and durable. The same qualities that make earthbags useful for military and flood control purposes apply to building houses. Now people all over the world … Read more